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Chinese Wanbang will invest $500 million to implement projects in the agriculture sector of Uzbekistan.

To this end, the sides signed an agreement within the framework of the visit of the Chinese delegation to the republic held recently.

The document was signed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources and Uzbekkozovaktovholding company.

The agreements envisage the joint implementation of more than 15 projects in such areas as the production, processing and packaging of agricultural products, including livestock products, as well as the export, import and re-export of finished products.

The parties plan to create logistics centers and facilities for processing agricultural products in the free economic zones of Uzbekistan on an area of 10,000 hectares. In addition, it is planned to supply 100,000 tons of Uzbek masha to the Middle Kingdom.

During the visit, representatives of the company visited Tashkent, Samarkand, Djizzak, Syrdarya regions and expressed a desire to develop long-term partnership with the country.

China is a key investor in Central Asian region. Today, Wanbang cooperates with more than 50 countries of the world and occupies 37 percent of the total food market of China.

Uzbekistan's economy depends heavily on agricultural production. Last year the volume of gross agricultural production in Uzbekistan reached 47.4 trillion soums. As of January 1, 2017, the number of operating farms exceeded 132,000 and dekhkan farms - 4.7 million.

In total, 8.2 million tons of grain, 2.9 million tons of potatoes, 11.2 million tons of vegetables, over 3 million tons of fruits and berries, 1.7 million tons of grapes, 2 million tons of melons and 2.9 million tons of raw cotton were produced in the country last year.

Because of the risks associated with a one-crop economy as well as from considerations of food security for the population, Uzbekistan has been trying to diversify its production of other agricultural products, while reducing cotton production.

The Central Asian nation intends to decrease production and public procurement of raw cotton up to 3 million tons by 2020.

Thus, Uzbekistan aims to increase production of grain crops up to 8.5 million tons with the growth rate of 16.4 percent by 2020 due to optimization of lands and introduction of modern agriculture technologies. It is also planned to increase production of potatoes by 35 percent, other vegetables by 30 percent, fruits and grapes 21.5 percent, meat by 26.2 percent, milk by 47.3 percent, eggs by 74.5 percent and fish by 2.5 times.

The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a new loan to Uzbekistan for $450 million.

These funds will be used to install additional generating equipment with a capacity of 850 to 950 MW at the Talimarjan thermal power plant in Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan. Such attention to the modernization of one of the largest TPPs of the country is explained by the fact that the demand for electricity in the republic is constantly growing.

The project provides for the expansion of the station by installing additional combined cycle gas turbines with generation of heat. The supplier for the new combined cycle generating unit is Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation. The new turbines will also increase the total capacity of the facility up to 2600 MW and raise the heat efficiency from 48 to 52 percent. The project will also reduce the cost of electricity produced at the plant by 30 percent.

In October 2016, the first combined-cycle plant with a capacity of 450 megawatts was put into operation at the Talimarjan thermal power plant, and in February 2017 -- the second one. Their work allowed each year to produce an additional 7 billion kWh of electricity. In August, two more combined cycle facilities with a capacity of 450 megawatts each were launched.

In addition, ADB will provide 2 million dollars for free, which will be used to improve the financial stability of Uzbekenergo and increase the efficiency of the tariff system in the power industry.

The total cost of the project is estimated at more than $860 million. In March 2013, Daewoo and Hyundai companies - the winners of the tender announced by the Uzbekenergo JSC, signed a contract to modernize the Talimarjan thermal power plant.

The sources of financing will be funds attracted from ADB, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as well as from the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan is the largest electricity producer in Central Asia. Total installed capacity of Uzbekistan's power plants exceeds 12.4 GW. Twelve thermal power plants, with a combined capacity of over 10.7 GW, and 31 hydro power plants, with a combined capacity of 1.7 GW, belonging to the Uzbekenergo, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Mining and Metallurgical Company Almalyk and the Uzkhimprom Association, constitute the backbone of the electricity sector.

Uzbekistan joined the ADB in August 1995. The ADB program in Uzbekistan has provided loans, grants and technical assistance to grow the country's economy and improve the lives of people, particularly the poor, women, children and other vulnerable groups.

The United States will assist Uzbekistan in its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Trade reported.

A meeting with the assistant to the U.S. Trade Representative for Central and South Asia, Mark Linscott, was held at the ministry, during which the parties discussed issues of Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO.

In addition, the issues related to Uzbekistan's membership in the general system of U.S. tariff preferences and legal protection of intellectual property was considered in detail.

"Agreements on the assistance of the American side, including the technical one, in the process of Uzbekistan's accession to the WTO were reached. In order to promote these issues in practice, permanent contacts between the responsible officials of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the office of the U.S. trade mission will be established," the ministry noted.

During his recent trip to South Korea, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced that Uzbekistan is renewing its work on WTO accession.

A memorandum and a road map have been signed between the governments of the two countries on Korea's assistance to Uzbekistan in the matters of joining this organization, including by assessing the consequences of entry, examination of national legislation in accordance with the requirements of WTO agreements, as well as technical, consultative and expert support to the ministries and departments concerned.

There are 164 members of the World Trade Organization. That's 84 percent of the 196 countries in the world.

They enjoy the privileges that other member-countries give to them and the security that the trading rules provide. In return, they had to make commitments to open their markets and to abide by the rules - those commitments were the result of the membership (or "accession") negotiations.

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that Qazaq Air JSC of Kazakhstan has signed a firm purchase agreement for two new Q400 turboprops.

Based on the list price of the Q400 aircraft, the firm order is valued at approximately $66.8 million US.

"We are delighted that Qazaq Air will continue to grow its fleet with the Q400 aircraft,"said Ryan DeBrusk, Vice President, Sales, Europe, Russia and CIS at Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. "Since the inauguration of Qazaq Air services within Kazakhstan in 2015, the Q400 has continued to prove itself in their operations and we are excited by this further endorsement of the Q400s superior operating characteristics."

"We are pleased with the agreements reached on the acquisition of these new aircraft with Bombardier, with whom we have been in partnership since we started the airline," said Blair Treherne Pollock, CEO of Qazaq Air. "It is thanks to the Q400 aircraft, which Qazaq Air has been operating successfully since 2015, that it is now possible for us to fly our passengers to 15 destinations in Kazakhstan. To date, we have flown more than 420,000 passengers, having shown a 50% increase in passenger traffic in 2017 compared to last year. "Adding two new aircraft to our fleet will not only allow us to expand our route network inside the Republic of Kazakhstan, but also to start new flights beyond it, covering nearby cities in the Central Asian region."

About Qazaq Air

Qazaq Air is a young, dynamically growing regional airline in Kazakhstan, 100 % of which is owned by "Samruk-Kazyna" Sovereign Welfare Fund. Their fleet currently consists of three new Bombardier Q400 aircraft.

Moscow (Dec. 11) – Gowling WLG has served as the legal adviser on one of the largest new-build nuclear power construction projects in the world: the El Dabaa project in Egypt, worth more than US$30 billion.

Gowling WLG acted for Rosatom State Corporation and its subsidiaries in successfully concluding the negotiation of the transaction. The project was formally announced in Egypt today at a ceremony attended by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.

The El Dabaa project involves the construction of a 4,800MW nuclear power station in Egypt, consisting of four 1,200MW nuclear reactors, along with nuclear fuel, spent fuel, and operations and maintenance related goods and services. The reactors will be owned and operated by Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority, part of Egypt’s Ministry of Energy.

As one of the world’s leading nuclear vendors, Rosatom has one of the largest portfolios of international nuclear construction projects, with 34 nuclear power plants in 12 countries. It is also one of the top uranium mining and fuel manufacturing companies in the world.

“El Dabaa is truly a monumental project for Rosatom, the Republic of Egypt, and for the global nuclear industry as a whole,” saidAhab Abdel-Aziz, Gowling WLG partner, global director of nuclear power generation and Rosatom project director. “It marks the first nuclear power project in a ‘new entrant’ economy since the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant in 2009, and entails the most significant vendor financing of its kind at US$25 billion.”

Since November 2015, Gowling WLG’s Nuclear Energy Group has played a key role in the transaction, includingnegotiating the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), Operations Support and Maintenance (OS&M), Nuclear Fuel Supply (NFS), and Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNFT) contracts. Gowling WLG’s team also provided strategic advice on risk management, project delivery, regulatory and licensing requirements, and nuclear liability.

“We were delighted to contribute to the success of this highly complex nuclear mandate, and to work alongside other industry-leading experts on the world stage,” added Abdel-Aziz. “We’re confident that this transaction will serve as an important precedent for similarly situated economies, and we hope that it will pave the way for the future development of nuclear power capacity in countries that have the greatest need for such capacity.”

The professionals in Gowling WLG’s Nuclear Energy Group have been delivering legal and strategic counsel to leading members of the Canadian and global nuclear industry and governments. They are currently advising on nuclear mandates in Canada, the U.K., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, South Africa and Finland. They have advised on nuclear mandates in other countries around the world, including the United Arab Emirates, Germany, South Korea, Australia, China, Russia, Jordan, Romania, and the United States.

Eleven agreements and memorandum worth more than $3 billion were signed at the Dec. 5 Kazakhstan Global Investment Round-table, which gathered investors from more than 30 countries in advance of Industrialization Day in the Kazakh capital.

In particular, agreements were reached on the Big Almaty Ring Motor Road and public-private partnership (PPP) project establishing the Nur Zholy motor vehicle crossing point within a section of the Western Europe – Western China highway. Memorandum were also signed on constructing an agribusiness complex and fruit processing facility, ceramic tile production and plant protection products.

Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev discussed economic trends, investment possibilities and measures to promote foreign direct investments (FDI) with representatives of more than 100 major international companies.

“The government aims at forming a large-scale and sustainable strategy to stimulate a new generation of investments in Kazakhstan. Today’s meeting is one of the important steps in this direction and we are open to your suggestions and new ideas,” he said to welcome the participants.

He outlined measures taken in the country to improve the investment climate and expand investment opportunities.

“First, after the difficulties of 2014-2016 linked with world changes, the economy of Kazakhstan has stabilized. Thanks to the adopted measures, the GDP grew 4 percent in the first 10 months of this year. For the first time [since the slowdown], private investments exceeded state ones,” he said.

Sagintayev added implementing major new reforms, including constitutional reform, modernization of Kazakhstan’s identity and a strategy on a new model for economic growth implies the country’s entry into a new stage of development and facilitates its ambition to enter the top 30 developed countries of the world.

Foreign investors can benefit from the nation’s policy on developing science-intensive production, renewing the basic branches of the economy and the agro-industrial complex, he said. The third stage of modernization opens new opportunities for investors in various sectors of the economy, such as metallurgy, machine building, agro-industrial complex, processing and the food industry, Sagintayev said.

“Today, Kazakhstan is one of the world leaders in the production of wheat and flour. We are strengthening this advantage, but we are also carrying out structural reform of the agricultural sector, diversifying crop areas in line with market demand,” he noted.

Investors gain access to the largest markets through Kazakhstan’s integration policy within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Sagintayev believes it is important to establish effective trade relations with neighbors to raise the country’s attractiveness, especially with China.

“The remaining trade barriers with China will be regulated and removed as early as 2018. This will open a very large market. Agricultural and organic products manufactured in Kazakhstan are in high demand in China,” he said.

According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the World Bank, Kazakhstan is 18th of 189 countries in terms of investment climate favourability, he noted.

The nation is also ranked 36th of 190 countries in the World Bank’s 2018 Doing Business ranking. In that same ranking, Kazakhstan was rated first among the 190 countries considered in Protecting Minority Investors. In addition to protecting minority investors, the country ranked sixth in enforcing contracts.

“Nevertheless, the government is focused to further promote Kazakhstan in the Doing Business rating. Thus, the new seventh package of legislative amendments has been prepared to improve the business environment at national and sub-national levels,” said Sagintayev.

“Over the last 10 years, approximately $250 billion of FDI was attracted in various sectors of the economy. We are grateful to every investor who came to Kazakhstan and implements projects here. We hope their example and today’s conversation will inspire you to conquer new business heights in Kazakhstan,” he added.

Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Commissioner said that the move would also help in internationalizing the International North-South Transport Corridor, which has been languishing for years.

Having acceded to the United Nations' convention on international transport of goods, India will ship its first consignment to Russia or Turkey via Iran on January 15, cutting down the transport cost and time by half. "There is a lot of hope in the industry that this will be quite a game changer as far as Indian exports are concerned particularly to Russia and Central Asia," Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Commissioner Sandeep Kumar told reporter in New Delhi. He added that the move would also help in internationalizing the International North-South Transport Corridor, which has been languishing for years.

India acceded to the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) convention, the global customs transit system for moving goods across international borders, on June 15 this year. The convention would formally come into effect for India six months after the date of accession, on December 16.

"Maybe around January 15 or 16, given cooperation from some trading intermediaries and logistics partners, we will actually be able to use this convention to export goods to Russia or Turkey via Iran," the CBEC Commissioner (Customs and Export Promotion) said. Mr. Kumar added that as per a dry-run conducted as a proof of concept, exporters would save around 50 per cent in terms of cost of transport as well as in terms of time.

Kazakhstan exports more than 800 manufactured products to 113 countries, ranking 52nd among the largest exporting countries, said Minister for Investment and Development Zhenis Kassymbek. The government plans to increase the nation’s non-oil exports by 50 percent by 2025.

“Today, Kazakhstan ranks 52nd among the largest exporting countries; in total, we export over 800 manufactured products to 113 countries of the world. We are world leaders in the supply of uranium, copper, titanium, ferroalloys, yellow phosphorus, flour, cottonseed oil, wheat and flax seeds. For the last five years, the quality structure of exports has improved substantially; one-third of the supplied products are exported to the non-primary sector of the economy,” he said.

“In the first nine months of the year, exports of processed goods grew by 22 percent and amounted to $11.1 billion, with increased supplies of ferroalloys, petroleum products, copper, rolled metal, propane, butane and zinc. The share of processed goods in total exports is 32 percent, which is 7 percent higher than in 2012,” he added.

“For the first time, Kazakhstan exports electric locomotives and diesel locomotives to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine and cars assembled in Kazakhstan are exported to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. Work is being carried out to promote passenger cars, rails and products from the military-industrial complex of Kazakh production for export,” noted Kassymbek.

The Nov. 30 Kazakhstan – United States Strategic Partnership Commission meeting, co-chaired by Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Yerzhan Ashykbayev and U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells, was mainly dedicated to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s official visit to the United States in January.

The United States was among the first countries to recognize Kazakhstan independence back in 1991. Secretary of State James Baker visited Almaty on December 17, 1991, one day after the declaration of Kazakhstan’s independence, to hold talks with President Nazarbayev.

The meeting in Astana underscored the importance of bilateral relations for both countries. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the delegations discussed a broad agenda of cooperation issues, including interaction within the U.N. Security Council, implementing the U.S. strategy for the South Asia region and collaboration prospects to help stabilize Afghanistan.

In her remarks, Wells noted the sides addressed a number of important topics including how to best resolve the conflict situation in Afghanistan and ensure ISIS is defeated. She underscored the United States values the strategic partnership with Kazakhstan and intends to maintain strong and stable relations with Astana and Central Asia as a whole.

“Washington views Astana as a leader not only in Central Asia, but on the world arena. We look forward to President Nazarbayev’s visit to the United States and certainly it will be a successful and constructive one. In Washington, Kazakhstan has a well-deserved reputation as a country that confidently looks to the future, welcoming the whole world to the stunning EXPO 2017, teaching people trilingualism and holding important forums to discuss issues of religion and peacemaking,” said Wells.

Ashykbayev noted the meeting focused on cooperation opportunities in trade and establishing contacts between businesses in the countries, in addition to security issues and challenges at regional and international levels.

“This meeting is an important element of the strategic partnership between the two countries and all the agreements reached today will serve as a basis for the preparation of President Nazarbayev’s trip to the United States,” he added.

The delegations considered interaction in regional and international priority cooperation such as developing the C5+1 dialogue and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Particular attention was paid to economic partnership, further developing Kazakhstan’s investment climate, diversifying the economy and energy efficiency.

Within the cultural and humanitarian partnership, the sides considered consular issues, freedom of religion and cooperation in education, including educational and cultural exchange programmes.

The Strategic Partnership Commission is one of the main mechanisms for reviewing bilateral cooperation and developing new partnership prospects. It is held on an annual basis, meeting previously in March 2016 in Washington.